Tangmadang Mountain | GuGuan Seven Heroes in Taiwan 谷關七雄-唐麻丹山

This is my third time on Tangmadan Mountain, (but it has been years since the last time). I had forgotten that even though this is the shortest of the famous "GuGuan Seven Heroes," it is still a decent challenge for the casual hiker. You need to be sure of your footing on rocks and sometimes scree at all times, and even if you think the summit is a piece of cake, remember: You still have to get back down! At the time of this video, the Butterfly Falls section has been CLOSED since June 2026, due to a landslide resulting in fatalities. We had decent weather and it was mostly good fun, but it wasn't without some mishaps....A dog of one of the hikers got stung by a large hornet and could hardly walk. It happened perhaps just ten meters in front of me. The dog jumped back and whelped. The owner carried the dog to a pavilion (which was still quite a ways back down). After showing the owner some AI recommendations in Chinese, we had no choice but to head down. I only hope that he was able to put some of his equipment in his fiends' backpacks to free up room for his mid-sized dog that you see in the video and carry him down. This in itself would have been difficult given the steep rocky terrain with ropes. Notes: I bought 48 oz. of water in a large Nalgene bottle in my pack plus a 350ml SoftFlash that I carried up front. In the summer, you might need even more. Don't forget snacks for energy. I felt that one hiking pole was sufficient so that I had another hand free for ropes, but my friends preferred two...Better on the knees. If your poles are easy to collapse and stow away, go for it. I just didn't want to be constantly redeploying them. You might also want gloves for the ropes, but again, I had no problem without them. There was a steep rock field where THREE of us independently got off trail (not too far from the top). If you find that the trail narrows to less than a foot with weeds on both sides, it is not the main one and you should backtrack. Keep and eye out for the reflectors on the trees and other trail markers. There are sections with drop-offs that could lead to serious falls. Always keep your eyes on the trail. Often when you see me filming those sections in this video, I am, in fact, not watching the screen of my phone...I am just holding it in front of me recording. After the hike we went to "Goya" Hot Springs, as my buddy's wife had tickets. They had pools of various temperatures. What a treat after bagging a summit in GuGuan! #taiwantravel #taiwanmountain